6.  The applicant was born in 1961 and lives in Berlin. She had been working as a geriatric nurse for Vivantes Netzwerk für Gesundheit GmbH (hereinafter referred to as “Vivantes”), a limited liability company specialising in health care, geriatrics and assistance to the elderly which is majority-owned by the Land of Berlin, from 16 September 2000 until 9 February 2005, when she was dismissed.
7.  Since January 2002 the applicant had been working in a geriatric nursing home operated by Vivantes, where the patients were partly bedridden, disorientated, and generally dependent on special assistance. In 2002 the Medical Review Board of the Health Insurance Fund (Medizinischer Dienst der Krankenkassen, hereinafter referred to as “MDK”) established serious shortcomings in the daily care provided there, caused by a shortage of staff.
8.  Between 24 January 2003 and 19 October 2004 the applicant and her colleagues regularly indicated to the management that they were overburdened on account of staff shortages and therefore had difficulties carrying out their duties. They specified the deficiencies in the care provided and also mentioned that services were not properly documented. In a notification dated 18 May 2003 the applicant further mentioned that she was no longer in a position to assume responsibility for the shortcomings in care resulting from staff shortages. From 19 May 2003 onwards the applicant repeatedly fell ill and was sometimes unable to work. One medical certificate stated that this was the result of overworking.
9.  In November 2003, following a further inspection, the MDK, established serious shortcomings in the care provided, on grounds of, inter alia, staff shortages, inadequate standards and unsatisfactory care as well as inadequate documentation of care, and accordingly threatened to terminate the service agreement with the applicant’s employer. Subsequently, restructuring took place.
10.  Following a number of further notifications to her superiors explaining the situation, in particular in October 2004, the applicant again fell ill and finally consulted a lawyer.
11.  In a letter dated 9 November 2004 the applicant’s legal counsel wrote to the Vivantes management. He pointed out that, on account of the lack of staff, the patients’ basic hygienic care (ausreichende hygienische Grundversorgung) could no longer be guaranteed. He also requested the management to specify how they intended to avoid criminal responsibility – also for the staff – and how they intended to ensure that the patients could be properly cared for. He pointed out to the management that only then could they avoid a criminal complaint or a public discussion of the situation, with all its negative implications. He gave the management until 22 November 2004 to respond.
12.  On 18 November 2004 the MDK again visited the premises without prior notice. It was subsequently in dispute between the parties whether the MDK had in fact established that the staffing situation, although difficult, was not critical.
13.  On 22 November 2004 the management rejected the applicant’s accusations.
14.  On 7 December 2004 the applicant’s lawyer lodged a criminal complaint against Vivantes for aggravated fraud and requested the public prosecutor to examine the circumstances of the case under all its relevant legal aspects. He specified that the complaint also served the purpose of avoiding criminal responsibility for the applicant herself following her numerous complaints to Vivantes which had not brought any improvements in the care provided. It was argued that, owing to the lack of staff and the inadequate standards, her employer knowingly failed to provide the high-quality care announced in its advertisements and hence did not provide the services paid for and was putting the patients at risk. He also alleged that Vivantes had systematically tried to cover up the existing problems and urged staff to falsify records of services rendered. The applicant’s complaint referred to the report produced by the MDK following their visit in 2003, and stated that she would be willing to attest to the bad conditions at the nursing home. It further included statements by the applicant concerning overworking and referred to minutes of a team meeting advising Vivantes staff, in order to avoid disciplinary consequences, not to disclose staff shortages and time pressures to patients and their relatives. The criminal complaint included the following passage:
“The company Vivantes GmbH, which has financial difficulties and is aware of this, has deceived family members, because the care provided does not in any way correspond to or justify the fees paid. Vivantes GmbH is therefore enriching itself and accepts the inadequacy of the medical and hygienic care. ... This demonstrates how it systematically – including by intimidating staff – tries to cover up existing problems. Staff are requested to draw up records of care provided which do not reflect the way such care was actually given ... Similar problems exist in other institutions; therefore considerable damage is at issue.”
15.  On 10 December 2004 the applicant’s lawyer also contacted the board of directors of the applicant’s employer and stated that there was a shortage of staff at the nursing home and that it failed to meet hygiene standards.
16.  On 5 January 2005 the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office discontinued the preliminary investigations against Vivantes pursuant to Article 170 § 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Strafprozessordnung - see “Relevant domestic law and practice” below).
17.  By a letter dated 19 January 2005 the nursing home dismissed the applicant, on account of her repeated illness, with effect from 31 March 2005. The applicant challenged the dismissal before the Berlin Labour Court (file No. 35 Ca 3077/05).
18.  Subsequently, the applicant contacted friends and also her trade union, Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (ver.di). On 27 January 2005 they issued a leaflet headed as follows:
“Vivantes wants to intimidate colleagues!!
Not with us!
Immediate revocation of the dismissal of our colleague Brigitte who used to work at Vivantes Forum for Senior Citizens
Call for the foundation of a non-party solidarity group”
The leaflet also stated that the applicant had lodged a criminal complaint but that this had not resulted in a criminal investigation and that she had been dismissed on account of her illness. It further stated as follows:
“Let’s answer back at last ... The insanity that private operators, together with the Berlin SPD/PDS senate, are destroying our manpower out of greed ... Vivantes flagrantly takes advantage of our social commitment. ... This is more than just a dismissal! This is a political disciplinary measure taken in order to gag employees ...”
19.  On 31 January 2005 the applicant sent one such leaflet by fax to the residential home, where it was distributed. Only then did Vivantes become aware of the applicant’s criminal complaint.
20.  On 1 February 2005 the applicant’s employer gave her the opportunity to make a statement regarding the leaflet; the applicant declined to do so, however. On 4 February 2005 Vivantes informed the works council that it intended to dismiss the applicant without notice. On 8 February 2005 the works council declared that it would not agree to the applicant’s dismissal.
21.  On 9 February 2005 the applicant’s employer dismissed her without notice or, alternatively, by 31 March 2005 on suspicion of having initiated the production and dissemination of the leaflet.
22.  A new leaflet was subsequently issued reporting on this dismissal; in addition, the situation was reported in a TV programme and in two articles published in different newspapers.
23.  On 21 February 2005 the preliminary investigation proceedings against Vivantes were resumed by the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office at the applicant’s request.
24.  On 25 February 2005 the applicant lodged a claim with the Berlin Labour Court (file no. 39 Ca 4775/05) against her dismissal without notice of 9 February 2005.
25.  On 25 April 2005 the applicant’s former employer issued a further notice of dismissal. The applicant’s claim of 25 February 2005 was then extended accordingly.
26.  On 12 May 2005 the applicant was heard as a witness by the public prosecution in preliminary investigation proceedings against Vivantes. The preliminary proceedings were again discontinued on 26 May 2005 pursuant to Article 170 § 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
27.  By a judgment of 3 August 2005 (file No. 39 Ca 4775/05) the Berlin Labour Court (Arbeitsgericht) established that the employment contract had not been terminated by the dismissal of 9 February 2005 since this could not be justified under Article 626 of the German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) or section 1(1) of the Unfair Dismissal Act (Kündigungsschutzgesetz - see “Relevant domestic law and practice” below). In this connection it found that the leaflet – the content of which was attributable to the applicant, since she had transmitted it to her employer without any further declaration – was covered by her right to freedom of expression and did not amount to a breach of her duties under the employment contract. Although it was polemical, it had been based on objective grounds and had not upset the “working climate” in the nursing home.
28.  Following a hearing on 28 March 2006, the Berlin Labour Court of Appeal (Landesarbeitsgericht), by a judgment of the same date, quashed the judgment of the Labour Court and found that the dismissal of 9 February 2005 had been lawful as the applicant’s criminal complaint had provided a “compelling reason” for the termination of the employment relationship without notice under Article 626 § 1 of the Civil Code and had made continuation of the employment relationship unacceptable. It found that the applicant had frivolously based the criminal complaint on facts that she could not prove in the course of the proceedings since, in particular, merely referring to the shortage of staff was not sufficient to enable her to allege fraud, and since she had failed to further specify the alleged instruction to falsify records, which was also evidenced by the fact that the public prosecutor had not opened an investigation. The Labour Court of Appeal further held that the criminal complaint amounted to a disproportionate reaction to the denial by Vivantes of any staff shortages, since the applicant had never attempted to have her allegation of fraud examined internally and since, moreover, she had intended to put undue pressure on her employer by provoking a public discussion of the issue. It also pointed out that the nursing home was under the supervision of the MDK, which had carried out a further inspection there on 18 November 2004, shortly before the applicant had lodged her complaint. She could have awaited the outcome of that visit and therefore her criminal complaint had been unnecessary. The court, referring also to the principles established by the Federal Labour Court in its relevant case-law (see “Relevant domestic law and practice” below), concluded that the applicant had not been acting within her constitutional rights and had breached her duty of loyalty towards her employer.
29.  On 6 June 2007 the Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht) dismissed an appeal by the applicant against the decision refusing her leave to appeal on points of law.
30.  By a decision of 6 December 2007, which was served on the applicant on 12 December 2007, the Federal Constitutional Court refused, without stating further reasons, to accept her constitutional complaint for adjudication.